Russian, Nicaraguan legislatures sign cooperation agreement

MANAGUA, January 14. /TASS/. Russia’s Federation Council upper parliament house and Nicaragua’s National Assembly on Tuesday signed an agreement on inter-parliamentary cooperation. The document was signed by deputy speaker of the Federation Council Ilyas Umakhanov and acting speaker of the Nicaraguan parliament Iris Marina Montenegro Blandon. Under the document, the sides agreed to hold consultations on international issues of mutual interest and to promote closer cooperation between the delegations of the two countries in international parliamentary organizations. “By signing this agreement, we open a new page in our cooperation,” Russia’s Federation Council speaker Valentina Matviyenko said at the signing ceremony. She thanked Nicaraguan lawmakers for supporting Russian initiatives at the United Nations, for recognizing independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and for “well-balanced fair position on problems of Ukraine and Crimea.” Apart from that, she invited Nicaraguan lawmakers to pay a visit to Russia. Iris Montenegro, on her part, expressed the hope that the agreement would promote closer relations and cooperation between the two states. “We have friendly relations, our peoples are united by culture. I would like to say that problems also consolidate us. When Nicaragua had problems, Russia was always there by our side. When Russia had troubles, Nicaragua was always there by its side,” she said. Read more